"8 Million Strong and Voting!" Small business is the heart beat of the United States economy. This blog searches for issues and answers to helping small business survive and thrive in California and the United States.

Friday, August 30, 2013

For those of you that have incorporated your business you
probably did so in part to protect your personal assets. Yesterday I
received an email from an attorney who is putting on a seminar on how to
pierce the corporate veil. It is important to you as a small business to make
sure you protect yourself. I strongly recommend you talk to your attorney about
this. See below email I received.

If you are interested in this webinar September 12th
please let me know and I will give you additional information.

I have written that the
Governor wanted to introduce legislation to eliminate the Unemployment
debt to the Federal government[about $10 billion].As of
earlier in the week the Governor has decided not to introduce legislation
this session. It will continue to be discussed after session and will reappear
probably early next year as urgent legislation meaning it would take effect
immediately .

Speaking of Unemployment the unemployment insurance charge will
go up $21 per employee in 2014 and $21 per year after that until debt to
Federal government is paid off. The rate will cap at 6%.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

I have mentioned in past emails
the importance of taking steps to prevent a cyber breach. I found this
calculator very interesting as it will tell you the cost should someone get
records in your data base. Please see calculator below. Note it does no
include the cost t include You all may want to consider cyber insurance
but even if you don’t purchase it you should take steps to protect yourself

The privacy and notification laws do not just apply to
social security numbers.

Here is another great website that shows up-to-date
information on the latest reported incidents of cyber-crime against businesses:
http://datalossdb.org//

You’ll notice on that list that just last week, the
university of Mississippi medical center had a breach affecting over 2000
records in their database. If you plug that number into the calculator,
that is going to cost them over $330,000!!

I am still looking for
small businesses in the LA area that will talk to CBS radio in LA about how the
Affordable Care Act will affect their business. They would like a business with
less than 50 employees and will be interviewing small businesses October 3. If
you are interested in talking to them please let me know as soon as
possible.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Bankrate has just put out a report of the cost of car
ownership in all 50 states. The most expensive state was Georgia where car
ownership is $4233 and the least expensive was Oregon at $2204 The
average was $3201 and California was the second most expensive at $3966. For
all states go to www.bankrate.com

Oct 1 Covered California will be up and begin running.
The Individual mandate will be effective Jan 1 2014. If you are not currently
providing insurance are you going to do anything to help your employees find
out what their options are? If you provide insurance are you going to do
anything to help employees meet the requirements of coverage for dependents.
I think there is a role here for your insurance broker. Has your
broker kept you informed about the Affordable Care Act? I would appreciate your
thoughts.

I have written about the Governor introducing
legislation to eliminate California’s debt to the Federal government for
unemployment insurance and to build a reserve for unemployment
insurance.. It is getting close to the close of session and no
legislation has been introduced. Small Business California will let you know
but expect rates to be raised and the current cap to be
raised from around $7000 to $12000 in the coming years.

I hope you find these emails helpful. If you are not already
a member of Small Business California I hope you will consider joining. Not
only do we provide valuable information via these emails but we are constantly
representing you in Sacramento and Washington. We have made a difference.
Lori Kammerer our director of governmental affairs and I
speak for you at numerous legislative committee meetings and we have developed
great relationship with legislators and their staff. We also have developed
great relationships with media around the state.

The cost is minimal. It is $150 for businesses with less
than $1 million in receipts and $300 for those with receipts over $1 million.
Please help us help you.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Thank all the
Associations that have signed onto our support letter for AB 399. This is the
bill requiring prompt payment for emergency work for the Department of General
Services.

See below the Associations that
have signed on. Some of you may be asking yourself why did some of these
associations sign on as it doesn’t affect them. The reason is because they
understand we are all part of the small business community. When issue
affects one it effects all of us. They recognize that the next issue that comes
up may affect them and not others.

Most of you know of all
the volunteer work I do I am most proud of Volunteers in Medicine and Clinic by
the Bay in SF. I am pleased to tell you Volunteers In Medicine opened its
96th free clinic in Montgomery County Indiana. See a list of all the
clinics around the country.

For those of you in the Bay Area
if you ever want to visit Clinic by the Bay please let me know. I would love to
show off our clinic and our volunteers.

Monday, August 19, 2013

How many of you that are providing health insurance to your
employees have a percentage the employee pays. If you require employees to pay
part of the premium do you have a plan set up that allows employees to make
these payments on a pretax basis. I am trying to find out if this will be
allowed under the Affordable Care Act so it is important that I hear from
you.

For the year 2011 to 2012 health insurance premiums went up
4%. A report will be coming out the next few days giving the increases for 2012
to 2013. If you are providing group health insurance for your employees
how much did your insurance go up for that year. Did you reduce your coverage
or increase the amount employees pay for their group coverage.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Lori Kammerer Small Business California governmental
affairs person wrote the following. We need your help.

Small
Business California is working to make sure that two very good bills for small
businesses will advance to the Governor’s desk this month and we need the help
of all associations who represent small businesses. If you are a member
of an association, please forward this email to your contact and ask them to
email their association’s logo to be added to the letterhead, along with about
25 statewide associations who represent small businesses.

SB
399 authored by Senator Roderick D. Wright is a measure that would strengthen
the Prompt Payment Act that would ensure small businesses who contract with the
state are paid on time and that interest penalties would apply if payments to
small businesses are delayed. There have been many cases where small
businesses will perform the work, invoice the Department of General Services
and wait for months for payment.

Assembly
Bill 1098 authored by Assembly Member Sharon Quirk-Silva requires that the
Governor’s Small Business Administration commission a study to determine the
effects of regulations on small businesses. There are two sources of data on
the cost of regulatory compliance on businesses, including federal the Small
Business Administration (SBA) and the state Office of Small Business Advocates
(OSBA). For the past 10 years, the federal SBA has conducted a peer
reviewed study that analyses the cost of federal government regulations on
different sizes of businesses. This research shows that small businesses
continue to bear a disproportionate size of the federal regulatory burden.
On a per employee basis for small businesses who employ 20 or less employees,
it costs approximately $10,585, or 36% more for small businesses to comply with
federal regulations than larger businesses.

The
letters for SB 399 and AB 1098 are in the links below. We have until next Wednesday, August 21st
COB to complete our association letters and distribute them to the all Assembly
and Senate members. Thank You!

I received a
call today from a major media outlet in Southern California regarding the
Affordable Care Act. If you would be willing to talk to them about how the
Affordable Care Act will affect your company or even if you are not
sure how it will affect you please let me know. Tell me what your business
does, how many employees and where you are located.

If you are not
in Southern California but would be willing to talk to the media let me know
that also. I get a lot of calls from the media around the state and they
are always looking for small businesses to talk to.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Yesterday there was an announcement that the Affordable Care Act
was going to hold off the implementation of the out of pocket limits. This hit
the news wires and the sparks really flew. I have spent a lot of time today to
find out exactly what was happening and find it is not the big deal it appeared
to be. First it did not apply to individual policies and second I have found it
will not apply to the Small Business Health Option Plan in California[SHOP].

Please see email from Micah at the Bay Area Council along
with a link to New Republic.

The second email is from Leesa Tori at Covered California
confirming it will have no impact on SHOP. My guess is that will also have
little to no effect outside Covered California. What is interesting is this
announcement was originally made in February and very few people knew about it
until yesterday.

Scott,Looking into this further, I’m not sure that it’s even
applicable. Here’s a good summary. This is much more limited than
it’s being made out to be in the press and I’m not sure it would even
potentially apply to the SHOP.

“Employers told the administration that coordinating records
from the different plans was difficult, so the administration gave them some
leeway. Employers who already have such arrangements—andonlyemployers who already have such
arrangements—can have one extra year to put new accounting systems in place.
During that time, the $6,350 limit will apply to “major medical”—doctor visits,
hospitalizations, and so on—but not prescriptions, dental, or vision.”

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Many of you have asked what are the timelines for bills in
the 2013 session. Many bills that are still pending are on suspense in
the appropriation committees of the Senate and the Assembly, Many will stall
there or become a two year bill meaning they will be brought back and start
over in 2014.

All bills must get to the Assembly or Senate floor by the
deadline August 30.

If they get to the respective floors they must pass by
September 13.

If passed it goes to the Governor and he must sign or veto
by October 13.

As you know Small Business California is working with the
California Endowment Foundation to get information out about the Affordable
Care Act to small businesses I have sent numerous emails out about ACA but
would like to have you send any questions you may have about it. Please let me
know.

Monday, August 12, 2013

You all know I am on the
California Commission for Disabled Access. We are looking to redesign our
website. How could we be more helpful to you? Could you take a few minutes to
go over our website and give me comments before our next meeting August 15.

The Commission now gets a copy
of all demand and claims letters in California made on businesses for
disability access. In the website you will see the top 10 areas demands
and claims are being made. You will see it starts in parking lots and travels
to the entrance and through the business

Friday, August 09, 2013

I have been trying for months to find out if there is any
way an employer can provide a defined contribution to an employee so that the
employee can purchase individual health insurance. My difficulty may be
that the IRS has not come out with those regulations.

There are some companies that are promoting that
this is possible to do with a health reimbursement account [HRA]. Some are
even telling employers with 2 to 50 to drop their group coverage and
set up an HRA. Beware of such claims. Do not drop your coverage until you
know if this is best for your company.

Speaking of ACA the definition of full-time employees is
30 hours. If you are providing group health insurance keep this in mind
as there are participation requirements for group coverage. Many small
businesses set a higher number of hours and under the new rules would
have to include people working 30 hours or more in their group coverage.
The participation requirement under the Small Business Health Option Plan is
70% of full-time employees.

AB 10 is working its way through the legislature. This would
increase the minimum wage to $8.25 in 2014, $8.75 in 2015, $9.25 in 2016, $9.50
in 2017 and $10 in 2018. The cost of living increase has been taken out
of the bill.

One of the benefits of the
Affordable Care Act will be people who want to start their own businesses
in the past may be afraid to leave their current job because they will
lose their health insurance. With the Affordable Care Act people will not
have to worry about pre existing conditions and because the subsidies are
geared to income may be eligible for subsidies.

Do you think this will increase
the ranks of the self employed?

Many of you have
worked with Rusilah A who has been my assistant the last couple of years.
She will be leaving Friday to going to nursing school. Her replacement is Lourdes Ramos. Her email is Lramos@cal-insure.com
and phone number is 415-680-2110. I hope you all will wish Rusilah
well and welcome Lourdes.

Friday, August 02, 2013

Yesterday the Small Business Health Options plan was rolled
out by Covered California by Peter Lee Executive Director of Covered
California.

This is designed for small businesses with 2 to 50 employees
and acts as a purchasing pool for small businesses health insurance.

The rates were generally lower based on an employee of 40
years old. The problem is that it is hard to tell what the cost will be at
different ages.

It will however be the only way small businesses can obtain
tax credits if they have less than 25 employees with an average income below
$50000.

The real benefit of SHOP is that employees will be given
choice of plans to choose from which usually involves additional cost to
employers. It also will standardize coverage making it easier for employers to
compare different plans.

The SHOP will be available for enrollment Oct 1 and coverage
will take effect January 1st, 2014. Peter Lee indicated that the rates and Bronze
Gold and Platinum plans would not be available until Oct 1 as they need to be
reviewed by the Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Care.

If you are providing health coverage for your employees are
you going to look into the SHOP when your coverage renews?

If you would like additional information on SHOP please
let me know by email.

Thursday, August 01, 2013

On Tuesday I attended a meeting with Christine Baker head of
the Department of Industrial Relations, Ellen Widess the head of Cal OSHA and a
number of representatives of insurance companies. The topic was Loss Control/
Prevention and our discussion centered around work place injuries of
employees. The goal of the meeting was to figure out how the state can
partner with insurance carriers and business associations to provide
information to employers about how to integrate loss control in their business
practices.

I am writing to you to get your thoughts.

What do you do in this area?

Do you have a written Injury and Illness Program,IIPP,which
is a requirement of all businesses?

Do you have regularly scheduled safety meetings and discuss
your IIPP.

Are you aware of the cost to you of workplace injuries?

Do you use the resources of your insurance carrier in this
area? Have you had an insurance carrier come out and walk through your
business? Did you find it useful?

Have been audited by OSHA?

Do you think your business has a culture of safety?

What is the best way to provide information to your business
on loss prevention? Is it written materials, webinars, internet etc. Are
there topics you are particularly interested in. Would you use this
information?

I would greatly appreciate your responses.

Big surprise yesterday. Michael Lujan the head of the Small
Business Health Option Plan,SHOP resigned yesterday from Covered
California effective August 9. Michael was great to work with and a real friend
to small business. Thank you Michael and all the best to you. We will miss
you..

About Me

Small Business California is a proactive, non-partisan business advocate whose only agenda is the well being of California’s 3.2 million small businesses. Working for all small businesses for a better business environment, SB-Cal is responsive to the needs of small business owners.
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Small Business California engages in lobbying activities on behalf of its members. Approximately 35% of your dues contribution goes to support these lobbying activities, and, we believe, is not deductible as a business expense under Section 162(e) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please consult your own accountant or tax attorney.